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05/28/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants got their nine-game homestand off to a good start, but could experience some trouble tonight with struggling starter Matt Cain on the hill for the opener of a three-games series versus the Arizona Diamondbacks at AT&T Park.
The Giants, who took two of three from Washington to begin the residency, will send Cain to the mound with hopes of the burly right-hander ending a personal three-start losing streak. Cain has a decent 3.05 earned run average during the slide, but run support has been scarce. In last Saturday's 1-0 loss at Oakland, Cain was the hard-luck loser after allowing one unearned run in eight innings of work. He gave up two runs in six innings in his previous start, a 3-1 setback at San Diego on May 17.
Cain will try to work his way over the .500 mark against Arizona, as he sports a 4-4 mark and a 3.86 ERA in 14 career matchups in this series.
San Francisco posted a 5-4 win over the Nationals on Thursday, thanks to Aubrey Huff, who ended 3-for-4 with a home run. Freddy Sanchez drove in a pair of runs and both Juan Uribe and Nate Schierholtz had RBI hits in the win.
Barry Zito did not figure in the decision after working 6 1/3 innings, allowing four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits. The left-hander walked five batters and fanned three. Santiago Casilla (1-0) picked up the win for retiring the last two hitters in the seventh, while Brian Wilson locked the game down in the ninth to register his 12th save of the season.
The Giants will also host Colorado for three games on the residency.
Arizona will resume its 12-game tour against NL West foes tonight and was just swept in three games by the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field to open a nine-game road trip. The Diamondbacks have lost four in a row overall and suffered an 8-2 loss to Colorado on Thursday, as staff ace Dan Haren continued to struggle and allowed all eight runs on 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings.
"I am having trouble keeping the ball in the yard and it's obviously frustrating," said Haren. "I've never dealt with anything like this."
Chris Young and Chris Snyder both knocked in a run for the D'Backs, who will also visit Los Angeles before hosting the Rockies back at Chase Field. Justin Upton went 0-for-4 and entered the game with hits in 17 of his past 23 games this month, along with a .311 batting average.
Since losing four straight starts, Edwin Jackson has won back-to-back trips to the mound and will take the ball for Arizona tonight. Jackson beat Florida on May 17 with eight shutout innings, then squeezed past Toronto last Saturday in an 8-5 win in Phoenix. Jackson was reached for five runs and six hits over 7 2/3 frames to improve to 3-5 in 10 season starts and lower his ERA to 6.28.
The right-hander is 1-0 in two career appearances (one start) against San Francisco.
Arizona swept a two-game series versus San Francisco from May 19-20 at Chase Field, but the Giants have won seven of the past 11 meetings between the teams.
<< Mets aim to continue pitching prowess in Milwaukee
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets try to continue their incredible run of
starting pitching this evening, when they open a three-game series against the
Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.
New York finished off an impressive three-game swee
<< Tigers, A's commence four-game set in Motown
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A late-inning collapse by Detroit on Wednesday was the
difference between a winning and losing road trip. The Athletics hope that
heart-breaking road loss will make the Tigers vulnerable tonight at Comerica
Park gi
<< Mariners send Lee to hill in opener at Angel Stadium
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Mariners picked up a win in Cliff Lee's last start
despite the former American League Cy Young Award winner turning in his worst
outing in nearly three years. Seattle doesn't want to play with fire again
tonight
<< LeCure set for big league debut in opener with Astros
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Right-hander Sam LeCure makes his major-league debut
tonight when the first-place Cincinnati Reds host the Houston Astros in the
opener of a three-game series between National League Central rivals at Great
American Ball Park
Blue Jays, Orioles set to begin stretch of divisional games >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Already 18 games out of first place in the American League
East, the Baltimore Orioles can at least try to have some fun by shaking up
the standings with 12 straight matchups against their division opponents.
The Orioles w
Carmona, Indians open road series in the Bronx >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last time Fausto Carmona stepped on the mound at new
Yankee Stadium, the Indians' offense erupted in a record-tying performance.
Given how Cleveland's offense struggled in its last game, the club hopes its
hurler
UConn basketball charged with eight violations >>
Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Connecticut has received a
notice of allegations from the NCAA in regard to possible recruiting
violations in the men's basketball program.
UConn officials and the NCAA have be
Hurricanes agree to one-year deal with Tlusty >>
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes have agreed to terms
with forward Jiri Tlusty on a one-year contract worth $500,000.
Tlusty was acquired by the Hurricanes from Toronto last December in exchange
for the rights to
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In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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